Nut and bolt tightening machine.



G. A. OGONNOR.

NUT AND BOLT TIGHTENING MACHINE.

APPLIUATION FILED JAN.13. 1913.

WJTNESSES.-

COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH :0.,WAsMlNn'rnM D. cA

GEORGE A. OCONNOR, OF WEST SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHSETTS.

NUT AND BOLT TIGHTENING MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patentedlec. 9, 1913.

Application led January 13,1913. Serial No. 741,687.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that l, GEORGE A. OCoNNoR, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at Vest Springfield, in the county of Hampden and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Nut and Bolt Tightening Machine, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to nut and bolt tightening machines, and more particularly to machines for turning in and tightening sleeves for flexible bolts and caps for the same in steam boiler construction, and consists of certain peculiar portable and ad justable supporting means for the motor and the turning mechanism, together with such mechanism, all as hereinafter set forth.

In steam-boiler construction and other work where it is necessary to employ considerable force in order properly to set up the bolts, nuts, sleeves, caps, or other securing members for the plates, heads, or other parts, air motors are frequently employed to furnish the power for this purpose, suitable mechanism being provided for the transmission of power from such motors to the members to be tightened, and the primary object of my invention is to provide a comparatively simple and inexpensive, yet highly efficient, machine for conveniently and expeditiously performing the labor required, with the aid of an air motor, such machine being portable and possessing a wide range of adjustment, in order to enable the same to be used to good advantage in the fairly broad and diversified field of operation for which it is adapted.

Other objects will appear in the course of the following description.

I attain these objects by the means and mechanism illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l is an end elevation of a machine in which is embodied a practical form of my invention, the upper portions of the end of the frame that is nearer the beholder being broken o so as to disclose in full the mechanism that otherwise would be hidden in part, and portions of the flexible shaft being broken away and shown in section for the purpose of more clearly disclosing the construction thereof; Fig. 2, a front elevation of said machine, a portion of t-he front cross-piece at the base of the frame being broken out to show certain parts behind, and, Fig. 3, a partial section and elevation of a cap designed to fit a screw element of a different kind from that which the cap in Figs. 1 and 2 is adapted to fit.

An air motor is represented in place in the first view, but is omitted from Fig. 3.

Similar figures refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

In the preferred embodiment of my invention, and as herein illustrated, l mount the turning or driving mechanism and the motor-supporting parts on a single bar, and in turn mount said bar on or in a frame or horse.

The horse or frame just referred to consists of four uprights l, preferably of angle-irons, mounted at their bases on casters, rollers or wheels 2, two side cross-pieces 3 and two end cross-pieces t securely fastened to said uprights a short distance above said bases, a cross-piece 5 between said crosspieces 3 and having its ends rigidly attached to said cross-pieces 4, a cross-piece 6 at the top to the ends of which the upper ends of said uprights are secured, and two bars or supports 7 having their upper terminals fastened rigidly to said cross-piece G and their lower terminals fastened securely to said cross-piece 5. The cross-pieces 5 and 6 are in the same vertical plane, hence the supports 7 stand vertically. The supports 7 have perforations or holes 8 therein, arranged so that any given hole in one support is on a level with the corresponding hole in the other support. This horse while comparatively light is very strong, durable and stable, and capable of sustaining a considerable load when attached to the supports 7, and of withstanding a great amount of vibration on the part of such load, without yielding, tilting, or itself vibrating to any appreciable extent.

A horizontal bar 9 is provided for attachment to the supports 7. Said bar has a slot 10 therein adjacent to one end and holes ll therein adjacent to the other end. The bar 9 is attached to the supports 7 by means of a pair of bolts l2 and a pair of nuts 13, one of the former passing through the slot 10 in said bar and one of the holes S in one of said supports, and the other passing through one of the holes ll in said bar and one of the holes 8 in the other support. The holes 3 permit the bar 9 to be adjusted and located at different heights, and the slot 10 and the holes 11 permit said bar to be adjusted longitudinally or hor-izontally and to be secured after such adjustment. By providing holes instead of a slot in the bar 9 at one terminal, for one of the bolts 12, provision is made for securing said bar absolutely against any possibility of endwise movement, while the slot facilitates adjustment at the other terminal.

Mounted centrally on the bar l9 is a block 14. The bar 9 is let into the block 14;, and the parts are bolted together as shown at l5. The block 14 affords a bearing at the top for a shaft yor spindle 16 and a bear-ing at the bottom for a shaft or spindle 17. The spindles `1G and 17, respectively, have secured on their rear -terminals a pinion 18 and a gear 19 which are in mesh with each other. yThe Afront vterminal of the spindle 116 is made angular in cross-section, vor squared as shown at 20, to fit into a correspending socket 21 at thel rear end of a motor shaft 22; and the front terminal of the spindle 17 is provided with a head 23 for a universal joint or coupling 24.

Mounted on the front of the bar 9 for vertical adjustment is a pair of brackets 25. Each of said brackets has a vertical slot 26 in the perpendicular part thereof, through which a bolt 27 passes, after passing through a hole in the bar '9. A nut 28 on each bolt 27 secures each bracket 25 to the Abar 9. The slots 26 are provided so that the brackets 25 can be adjusted vertically. These brackets-are for the support of-an air motor, represented at 29 in Fig. 1, and the horizontal arms, upon which said motor rests, are provided with straps or clamps 30-30, and with four bolts 31 and ra like :number of nuts 32, by means of which said motor is securely held in place. The brackets 25 `are so adjusted as to permit the socket 21, of the -motor shaft 22, to be slipped over the squared terminal 20, Lof the spindle 16, when the motor 29 is placed in position on said brackets. vWhen the motor is set in motion, it drives the spindles 16 and the pinion 18, andthe latter in turn drives the gear 19 and the spindle 1-7.

Connected with the spindle 19, by means of the universal coupling 24e, is a flexible shaft or arm, which is extensible as well as being flexible in the `ordinary sense of such term as applied to eertainwell-known types of shafts-and arms, and comprises, with said coupling, a tube 33, pivotally connected at its upper end to said coupling and having rigidly attached thereto at the opposite end, by means of pins 34-34, or otherwise, a collar 35 in which is a square or other angular opening 3G beyond or below the opening in said vcollar in which is received the attached end of said tube, and a .rod 37 which is square or otherwise angular in cross-section to fit and slide longitudinally in saidopening. The interior diameter of the tube 33 is large enough to permit that portion of the rod 37 that extends through the collar 35 into said tube to slide freely therein. The outer terminal of the rod 37 is provided with a head 38 with which is connected a universal joint or coupling 39.

in addition to the above-mentioned parts of the fiexible arm, there is a cap 40 connected with the head 38 by `means of the coupling 39. The cap 40 has a recess in the face thereof to receive o-r .fit over the head or other part, of the bolt, sleeve, or other member Ato be tightened, which is provided for the application of a turning tool or member. The aforesaid vrecess must be adapted to fit the particular part =or screw element to which the lcap 40 having such recess therein is to- :be applied, and., inasmuch as 4the screw elements which this machine is generally designed to act on, vary in shape and rsize, a plurality of caps `having therein recesses to correspond .to the different elements to be set may be provided for the flexible karm of which such caps really constitute parts. In Fig. 1 is shown a cap 40 having therein a recess 41 with parallel sides, and in Fig. 3 is shown a ycap 10 having therein a tapered recess 42. 'The `sha-nk of the cap 40 is held in and guided by the hand of the operator, when said cap .is applied to Va nut, bolt, sleeve, lor other screw element to be set, and during :the 4,setting operation, the lconstruction of the flexible arm beinglof the nature described above enabling said cap to be moved in any direction, whether idle or while being rotated `by ythe spindle 17, and to be advanced or retracted.

In ,practice the horse is first rolled o-n the wheels 2 'to a position `'near enough to the place where the work is to be done to bring within the range of .the cap 40 the screw elements Ato be tightened; then said cap is applied to one of such elements, the motor 29 is started, and the element is set by the' power transmitted from said motor through the intervening members, including the flexible arm which is caused to rotate -by said motor, .regardless ofthe position it may be made .to yassume by the 'placing of the cap on said element and regardless of how much or little said arm maybe lengthened or shortened during the operation; and, finally, f

when the element `is firmly set, the motor -is stopped and the cap removed Vfrom said element. Next the Vcap is applied to another element .to be tightened, and the setting operation is repeated in the same manner as before, and so on untilall of the screw elements are set, when the machine is rolled away.

Ain-air motor is best adapted for the work of tightening bolts and the like, but some other kind of motor can be used with my machine or aS a part thereof without affecting the scope of my invention.

I am aware that flexible arms are old in the art, and do not therefore seek to claim such an arm per se.

It is to be understood that modifications involving the use of equivalents and changes in the form and arrangement of parts may be made, but since such modifications involve no departure from the spirit of my invention, and are within the knowledge o-f a skilled mechanic, they require no further description here.

That I claim as my invention, to secure by Letters Patent, is

l. In a machine of the class specified, a portable horse having perforated vertical supporting members, a perforated horizontal supporting member provided with spindlesupporting bearings, and means to adjust said last-mentioned member to said vertical supporting members at different elevations and at different points in a horizontal direction.

2. In a machine of the class specified, a portable frame having vertical supporting members, a horizontal supporting member secured to said vertical supporting members and provided with spindle-supporting bearings, motor-supporting members, and means and desire Copies of this patent may be obtained for to adjust said last-mentioned members vertically on and to secure them to said horizontal supporting member.

3. In a machine of the class specified, a portable frame having vertical supporting members, a horizontal supporting member provided with bearings, means to adjust said last-mentioned member vertically and horlzontally on and to secure the same to said vertical supporting members, forwardlyextending motorsupporting members provided with motor-supporting means and means to adjust said motor-supporting members vertically on and to secure them to said horizontal supporting member.

4. In a machine of the class specified, a frame mounted on rolling members and having perforated vertical supports, a perforated horizontal bar, one of the perforations in said bar being a slot, means to attach perforated portions of said bar to perforated portions of said supports, a spindle-supporting bearing block secured to said bar, and mot-orsupporting brackets secured to said bar, such brackets being slotted for vertical adjustment.

F. A. CUTTER, A. C. FAIRBANKS.

ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C. 

